Arie Dirk Bestebreurtje

Artie Dirk Bestebreurtje (12 April 1916-2 January 1983) was a Royal Dutch Army captain who served as a liaison officer with the US 82nd Airborne Division during World War II.

Biography
Artie Dirk Bestebreurtje was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands on 12 April 1916, and his family moved to Switzerland during the 1930s. Bestebreurtje studied law in Zurich, and his family escaped to the United States via Portugal when Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands during World War II. In October 1943, he volunteered in the British SOE while he was in exile in England, and he became a liaison officer with the US 82nd Airborne Division. Bestrebreutje was nicknamed "Captain Harry" because his Allied peers could not pronounce his surname. He knew the area around Nijmegen well, so he was useful in planning out Operation Market Garden. On 18 September, he saved Major-General James Gavin from German troops, and he took part in the liberation of 's-Hertogenbosch in October 1944. He emigrated to the USA after the war's end, and he was honorably discharged in 1952, the same year that he acquired US citizenship. He died when he fell through ice in his new hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia.